In the eyes of a child whats preferable discipline or punishment?
Answer: Discipline.
Discipline is much more positive. It reinforces the boundaries that children should already be aware of and it should prevent the need for punishment. Discipline, taught in a loving and considerate way encourages children to behave well.
Punishment on the other hand is negative as you are taking away something from the child. Something that they value and you are more likely to get a stronger reaction to punishment from a child than discipline would get.
What do you tend to do – punish or discipline and what methods do you use? What is your child receptive to?
3 Comments for this entry
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A downside of punishment can be that a child may devise ways of continuing the unacceptable behaviour without being ‘caught’ thus fostering deception too.
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I agree that when they are younger ‘Discipline’ is the way to go but as they get older, punishment is not always so bad. It prepares them for how life is in reality. It need not be severe always but taking away TV time for the day is generally good enough punishment for my daughter and I make her earn it back by doing something better to keep her encouraged and positive and motivated. This way she knows that if she does something unacceptable, she can lose it and will have to do something really impressive (on my terms) to get it back!
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I think sometimes I start with the intention of discipline and drift into punishment.
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June 10th, 2010 on 8:49 pm